Steward dismissed after failing to renew airside pass fails to get injunction

Lorcan Delaney seeking reinstatement after having issues linked to drug charge and Garda vetting

An Aer Lingus air steward has failed to get a High Court injunction over his purported dismissal a year ago after his airside pass was not renewed following a Garda vetting process.

The main case by Lorcan Delaney, of Castlefarm, Swords, Co Dublin, challenging the legality of the dismissal and seeking reinstatement, is yet to be heard.

Mr Delaney’s airside pass, which allows cabin crew to get to airplanes unhindered to work, was not renewed in December 2019 because vetting had thrown up a pending prosecution for possession of small amounts of cannabis and MDMA.

He was arrested the previous June at the Slane Music Festival in Co Meath and was charged. The case was dismissed in May when a judge accepted the drugs were for personal use and that he had not come to Garda attention previously.

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He was told in December 2019 that Garda vetting for his airside pass application had turned up what was at that stage his pending prosecution. He was placed on unpaid leave until his pass was renewed, but on February 20th last he was dismissed as he still did not have the pass.

Mr Delaney brought High Court proceedings challenging the dismissal and seeking injunctions. Aer Lingus denied unfairly dismissing him and opposed the application.

Refusing the injunctions, Mr Justice Senan Allen said he was not persuaded that Mr Delaney had established that he would be exposed to a real risk of injustice if the injunctions were not granted pending full trial.

Repeatedly warned

The judge did not accept the argument that he had originally been put on unpaid leave by reason of the pending drugs charge but rather he had been repeatedly warned he would be taken off the payroll if he could not fly due to not having a pass.

He also noted that, by last July, Mr Delaney had another job where he earned the minimum wage, or just under €20,000 per annum for full time work. The court heard his most recent salary with Aer Lingus had amounted to some €24,000.

In practical terms what he sought from the court was an order, pending trial of the action, requiring Aer Lingus to pay the difference between what he is now earning and what he would have earned if not dismissed, the judge said.

However, he said, there was simply no evidence of what that differential between the two jobs was. It seemed to the judge it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that Mr Delaney has been better off in full-time minimum wage employment than if he had remained on the payroll of Aer Lingus. Due to the pandemic cabin crew staff wages were just 60 per cent of what they were, the judge noted.

Mr Delaney had fallen well short of a requirement for an injunction that he must establish a fair question to be tried and had a strong case likely to succeed at the hearing of the action, the judge said.